JP5080136B2 - Remote maintenance system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a remote maintenance system, and more particularly to a remote maintenance system that updates software according to a version of software installed in a terminal connected to the server and a network, a software update control method, and a server.

  In a system in which a plurality of terminals and a server are connected via a network, a method of automatically updating, deleting and adding each file of the terminal or server has been devised. For example, in Patent Literature 1, an update condition determination unit that acquires a usage state of a terminal and determines whether or not software can be updated, and a terminal that is determined to be updateable by the update condition determination unit is instructed to update software. A technology is disclosed in which an automatic software updating apparatus including an update control unit automatically performs a process from extraction of a non-use terminal to software update.

JP 2006-318293 A

  However, in the prior art, although software can be automatically updated, the updated software does not always operate normally. For this reason, when software is updated on many terminals and the updated software is started all at once, the worst situation may occur where all the terminals that have been updated will not operate normally, hindering subsequent operations. Come on. Further, in this case, there is a problem that many terminals that do not operate normally require recovery work, and that recovery takes time.

  The purpose of the present invention is to monitor the operating status of whether or not the software after updating of a certain terminal is operating normally, and to reflect it on other terminals according to the operating status, so that other terminals are operating normally. It is to avoid the situation where it stops working.

In order to achieve the above object, a software update control method for a remote maintenance system according to the present invention connects a server and a plurality of terminals via a network, and updates the software of the terminal by remote access of the server. A method for controlling software update in a remote maintenance system, wherein operation status data indicating an operation status after updating the software of the first terminal is received from the first terminal, and the received operation status data When an error occurs in the first terminal according to the operation status of the first terminal, a process predetermined for each terminal is executed for the first terminal, and the error of the first terminal that detected the error is detected. It aggregates number for each base, if in excess of the number that the number has been determined in advance, further software other terminals in the hub It can be configured not to.

Further, the remote maintenance system of the present invention is a remote maintenance system in which a server and a plurality of terminals are connected via a network, and the software of the terminal is updated by remote access of the server. Based on the log information regarding the operation after the software update, terminal storage means for storing a diagnosis program for diagnosing the operation status of whether the updated software is operating normally, and the diagnosis program diagnosed Terminal communication means for transmitting operation status data as a result to the server device, and the server receives server operation means for receiving the operation status data of the terminal from the terminal , and the terminal received from the terminal. end and server storage means for storing operation status data, the process when an error occurs in the terminal based on said operating conditions And defining and updating control files for each, the based on the stored in the server storage unit a and said operating condition data the further and new control file, executes a predetermined process when an error occurs during the end of the software update said end, possess an update control means for performing control to update the said other terminal of the software, the server storage means, abnormality number file obtained by aggregating the number of the terminal which has detected an error during the software update processing for each site And when the number of units recorded in the abnormality occurrence number file exceeds a predetermined number during software update processing, the update control means performs subsequent software updates for the other terminals at the base. It can be configured not to execute the processing .

The server of the present invention is a server that is connected to a terminal via a network and updates the software that the terminal has by remote access to the terminal, and after the update of the software that the first terminal has Communication means for receiving operation status data indicating the operation status from the first terminal, and update processing related to software update for other terminals other than the first terminal according to the operation status of the received operation status data First storage means for storing data, second storage means for storing in advance processing for each terminal when an error occurs during software update according to the operation status of the received operation status data, If an error occurs during the software update of the first terminal, the process stored in the second storage means is executed on the first terminal, and the first storage On the basis of the stored the further new process data, possess an update control means for performing control to update the software of the other terminals, said first storage means, the error was detected during software update process Including an abnormal number file that counts the number of terminals for each base, the update control means, during the software update process, when the number recorded in the abnormal number file exceeds a predetermined number, It is possible to configure so that subsequent software update processing is not executed for the other terminals at the base .

  According to the present invention, it is possible to avoid a situation in which other terminals do not operate normally by reflecting the operation status of software after updating a certain terminal to other terminals.

Next, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described based on the following embodiments with reference to the drawings.
[Example 1]
First, a remote maintenance system according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a remote maintenance system 100 that controls software update.
The remote maintenance system 100 includes a server 11, a server side router 41, a server side LAN 10, a terminal 21, a branch side router 42, a branch side LAN 20, and a WAN 200. A server side router 41 and a branch side router 42 are provided between the WAN 200 and the server side LAN 10, and between the WAN 200 and the branch side LAN 20, respectively, and relay data between the WAN and the LAN. The server side LAN 10 and the branch side LAN 20 are not directly connected but are connected via the WAN 200. Here, the server-side LAN 10 may be provided for each base or each region. A server 11 is connected to the server side LAN 10, and a terminal 21 is connected to the branch side LAN 20.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the server 11.
The server 11 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 13, an input unit 14, an output unit 15, a network interface (NIC) 16 and a storage unit 17. The CPU 13 controls the server 11 and calculates / processes data. The calculated / processed data is stored in the storage unit 17 or output to the output unit 15. The input unit 14 is, for example, a keyboard or a mouse. The output unit 15 outputs the data calculated / processed by the CPU 13. The NIC 16 is a network interface card, and connects the server 11 to the server side LAN 10.

  The storage unit 17 stores data of a distribution file 171, a distribution destination list 172, a software operation status file 173, a distribution program 174, an update control file 175, and an abnormality occurrence number file 176.

Next, each file will be described.
The distribution file 171 is a file that stores program modules and data tables distributed to the terminals 21.
As shown in FIG. 3, the distribution destination list 172 includes a terminal identification number 50 and a base identification number 51. The terminal identification number 50 is a sequence combining numbers, characters, and symbols assigned to identify the terminal 21 and must be unique. If the identification number of the terminal 21 is determined, the identification number of the base is uniquely determined. The base identification number 51 is an identification number indicating the base where the terminal 21 is installed.

  The software operation status file 173 is a file in which the software operation status of the terminal 21 received from the terminal 21 is recorded.

  The distribution program 174 is a program that distributes the distribution file 171 to the terminal 21 and controls software update of the terminal 21 based on the software operation status data recorded in the software operation status file 173. When an error occurs during software update, if the error process is described in the update control file 175, control to execute the described process is performed. When the distribution program 174 is executed by the CPU 13, the software update control means 300 for updating the software of the terminal 21 is realized.

  The abnormality occurrence number file 176 is a file in which the server 11 records the number of the number of terminals 21 that have detected an abnormality for each base during the software update process for the terminals 21 connected to the network of the remote maintenance system 100. .

The update control file 175 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.
As shown in FIG. 4, the update control file 175 includes fields for the base identification number 60 and the allowable abnormal number 61.
The allowable abnormal number 61 represents the number of terminals 21 whose software operation after update is not normal, which triggers the server 11 to stop the software update to the terminal 21. When the number of terminals 21 whose software operations after updating exceed the allowable abnormal number 61 described in the update control file 175, the server executes subsequent software updating for the terminal 21 at the base. do not do. For example, when the allowable abnormal number of the base X is 0, if it is notified that the operation after the software update is not normal even if there is one terminal 21 of the base X, the server 11 thereafter notifies the terminal 21 of the base X. Do not perform software updates.

  The site identification number 60 is a string combining numbers, characters, and symbols for identifying the site, and must be unique. In the field of the base identification number 60, an identification number indicating a plurality of bases may be described, for example, an identification number indicating all the bases may be described. Thereby, for example, the allowable abnormal number 61 of the two bases W and Z can be described as 4, and in this case, at least five terminals 21 at the base W and the base Z are connected to the server 11. If it is notified that the operation of the software after the update is not normal, the server 11 does not update the software for the terminals 21 at the base W and the base Z thereafter.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the update control file 175 is a file in which processing performed by the server 11 is described for an error that occurred during the update processing for each terminal 21, and includes the terminal identification number 70 and the error occurrence time. It consists of a field of processing 71.

  The terminal identification number 70 is a combination of numbers, characters, and symbols assigned to identify the terminal 21 and must be unique.

  The process 71 when an error occurs is a field that describes the contents that each terminal 21 should process when an error occurs for each item of the contents of the error occurrence. For example, if the terminal X-001 is not powered on, the server performs process A. The process A is, for example, trying to update software again after transmitting a power-on instruction to the terminal 21 or shifting to the next process of the terminal 21 without updating the software to the terminal 21. The process A may include a process for determining whether or not the terminal 21 is counted as an abnormal number.

The abnormality occurrence number file 176 will be described with reference to FIG.
The abnormality occurrence number file 176 includes fields of the base identification number 80 and the abnormality occurrence number 81. The site identification number 80 is a string combining numbers, characters, and symbols for identifying the site, and must be unique. The number 81 of abnormal occurrences is the number of terminals 21 that have detected an abnormality during the software update process for the terminal 21 connected to the network of the remote maintenance system 100 by the server 11, and is the number counted for each base.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the terminal 21.
The terminal 21 includes a CPU 23, an input unit 24, an output unit 25, a NIC 26 and a storage unit 27. The CPU 23 controls the operation of the terminal 21. The input unit 24 is, for example, a keyboard or a mouse. The output unit 25 outputs data obtained as a result of data calculation / processing by the CPU 23. The NIC 26 is a network interface card, and connects the terminal 21 to the branch side LAN 20. The storage unit 27 stores data of the application software 31, the log file 32, and the diagnostic program 33.

  The application software 31 outputs the operation state of the software at the start time and after the start to the log file 32.

  The log file 32 is a file in which an operation log of software output by the application software 31 is recorded.

  The diagnostic program 33 acquires the operation log output by the application software 31 from the log file 32, diagnoses the operation status of the updated software based on the acquired operation log, and sends the result to the server 11 via the router 42. Notice.

Next, the procedure in which the server 11 controls the software update of the terminal 21 will be described with reference to FIGS.
7 to FIG. 9, after the server 11 acquires information on the terminal 21 that is the next software update target from the distribution destination list 172, the server 11 performs software update on the terminal 21 and receives software operation status information from the terminal 21. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement which judges whether a software update process is continued. In particular, FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an operation when an error occurs during software update.

  First, the CPU 13 of the server 11 sets the field of the number 81 of abnormal occurrences for all sites in the abnormality occurrence number file 176 to 0 (S101). Next, the distribution destination of the distribution file 171 is acquired from the distribution destination list 172 of the storage unit 17 (S102). If the distribution file 171 has already been distributed to all the terminals 21 and a new distribution destination has not been acquired (N in S103), the process ends. When the distribution destination can be acquired (Y in S103), information on whether or not the distribution destination terminal 21 is in an updatable state is acquired (S104). When the terminal 21 is not in a state in which software can be updated (for example, the terminal is not turned on, or the prerequisite version of the software to be updated is different) (N in S105), the CPU 13 of the server 11 performs error processing described later. On the other hand, when the terminal 21 can update software (Y in S105), the CPU 13 of the server 11 transmits the distribution file 171 in the storage unit 17 to the terminal 21 (S106).

  When the file distribution of the distribution file 171 is not normally completed (N in S107), the CPU 13 of the server 11 performs an error process described later.

  When the file distribution is completed normally (Y in S107), the CPU 13 of the server 11 waits for notification of the software operation status after software update from the terminal 21 (S110). If the terminal 21 times out without being notified of the software operation status (S111), error processing described later is performed. When the software operation status is notified from the terminal 21 before the timeout (Y in S110), the notified information is stored in the software operation status file 173 of the storage unit 17 (S112). If the notified software operation status is not normal (N in S113), error processing described later is performed. If the notified software operation status is normal (Y in S113), the process returns to the process of acquiring the next distribution destination from the distribution destination list 172 (S102).

Next, error processing will be described.
The CPU 13 of the server 11 determines whether an error has occurred during the software update process (S121). If no error has occurred, the process returns to the process of acquiring the next distribution destination from the distribution destination list 172 (S102). When an error occurs, it is determined whether or not processing for the error is described in the update control file 175 (S122). If there is no description, the process ends.

  If there is a description, the field of the number of abnormal occurrences at the site to which the terminal 21 belongs is incremented by 1 in the abnormality occurrence number file 176 (S123), and the process described in the update control file 175 is performed (S124). If the process described in the update control file 175 is a content that terminates the process, the CPU 13 of the server 11 ends the process (N in S125). If the process described in the update control file 175 does not end the process, the process returns to the process of acquiring the next distribution destination from the distribution destination list 172 (S102).

As described above, according to the server 11 according to the present embodiment, it is possible to reliably update the software for each device while confirming the operation state of the terminal 21 after the software update. Here, the term “each unit” does not mean every unit in the entire network, but the terminal 21 of the entire network may be divided into some subsets, and each unit may be in each subset. For example, the server 11 may perform a software update process for each base and perform processing for each base in parallel.
[Example 2]
Next, a remote maintenance system for controlling software updates according to the second embodiment will be described. The configuration example of the remote maintenance system according to the second embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment, and therefore the reference numerals of the first embodiment are referred to.

  The difference between the second embodiment and the first embodiment is that the server 11 distributes files to the terminals 21 to be updated in advance all at once, and then sends a software update command to the terminals 21 one by one. Is a point. Upon receiving the software update instruction, the terminal 21 updates the software using the previously distributed file, and activates the software after the update. Thereafter, the diagnostic program 33 of the terminal 21 acquires the updated operation status of the software and notifies the server 11 of it. The server 11 controls whether or not to send a software update command to the other terminal 21 according to the notified operation status.

  As described above, according to the second embodiment, since the files are not distributed to all the terminals at the same time but distributed to all the terminals at the same time, the network traffic can be reduced, and the software update for all the terminals is performed. Can reduce the time it takes.

Example 3
The difference from the first embodiment compared to the third embodiment is that the server 11 initially distributes files one by one at a time and causes all the remaining terminals to update software at a certain point in time. . Here, for example, the point in time is a point in time when the updated software operation status is notified from three terminals.

  As described above, according to the third embodiment, by initially updating the software one by one, it is possible to secure the minimum number of terminals that are desired to operate normally, and thereafter, the software of the terminals is updated all at once. The time required for the entire software update can be shortened.

  The present invention is not limited to the specifically disclosed embodiments, and various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the claims.

The figure which shows the structural example of the remote maintenance system in an Example. The figure which shows the structural example of the server in an Example. The figure which shows the structural example of a distribution destination list. The figure which shows the structural example of an update control file (the 1). The figure which shows the structural example of an update control file (the 2). The figure which shows the structural example of the terminal device in an Example. The flowchart which shows the operation | movement which controls the software update of a terminal. The flowchart which shows the operation | movement which controls the software update of a terminal. The flowchart which shows the operation | movement which performs the process with respect to the notified error. The figure which shows the structural example of an abnormality generation number file.

Explanation of symbols

10: Server side LAN, 11: Server, 13: CPU, 14: Input unit, 15: Output unit, 16: NIC, 17: Storage unit, 20: Branch side LAN, 21: Terminal, 23: CPU, 24: Input Part: 25: output part, 26: NIC, 27: storage part, 30: branch side LAN, 31: application software, 32: log file, 33: diagnostic program, 41, 42: router, 100: network, 171: distribution File, 172: distribution destination list, 173: software operation status file, 174: distribution program, 175: update control file, 176: abnormality occurrence number file, 200: WAN, 300: update control means

Claims (3)

A software update control method in a remote maintenance system in which a server and a plurality of terminals are connected via a network and the software of the terminal is updated by remote access of the server,
An operation status data indicating an operation status after updating the software of the first terminal is received from the first terminal, and an error is detected in the first terminal according to the operation status of the received operation status data. When the error occurs , the processing predetermined for each terminal is executed for the first terminal, and the number of the first terminals that detected an error is counted for each base, and the number is determined in advance. A software update control method characterized by not updating the software of other terminals in the base when the number exceeds the specified number . A remote maintenance system for connecting a server and a plurality of terminals via a network, and updating software of the terminal by remote access of the server,
The terminal includes a terminal storage unit that stores a diagnostic program for diagnosing an operation status as to whether or not the updated software is operating normally based on log information related to the operation after the software is updated, and the diagnosis A terminal communication means for transmitting operation status data as a result of diagnosis by the program to the server device;
The server includes a server communication unit that receives the operation status data of the terminal from the terminal, a server storage unit that stores the operation status data received from the terminal, and an error occurs in the terminal based on the operation status Predetermined when an error occurs during software update of the terminal based on the update control file that defines the processing for each terminal, the operation status data stored in the server storage means, and the update control file run the process, it possesses an update control means for performing control to update the software of the other terminal,
The server storage means includes an abnormality occurrence number file in which the number of the terminals that have detected an error during software update processing is tabulated for each base,
The update control means, when the number of units recorded in the abnormality occurrence number file exceeds a predetermined number during software update processing, executes subsequent software update processing for the other terminals at the base Remote maintenance system characterized by not . A server that is connected to a terminal via a network and updates software of the terminal by remote access to the terminal,
Communication means for receiving, from the first terminal, operation status data indicating an operation status after the software update of the first terminal;
First storage means for storing update processing data related to software updates for other terminals other than the first terminal, in accordance with the operation status of the received operation status data;
Second storage means for storing in advance processing for each terminal when an error occurs during software update according to the operation status of the received operation status data;
If an error occurs during software update of the first terminal, the update process data stored in the first storage means is executed on the first terminal by executing the process stored in the second storage means. based on, it possesses an update control means for performing control to update the software of the other terminal,
The first storage means includes an abnormality occurrence number file in which the number of terminals that have detected an error during software update processing is tabulated for each base,
The update control means, when the number of units recorded in the abnormality occurrence number file exceeds a predetermined number during software update processing, executes subsequent software update processing for the other terminals at the base A server characterized by not .

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